


We All Learn Together

by KestrelGirl



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: (Sorry Trahearne-Lives squad I love him but I gotta go canon here), Body Horror, Cute Kids, Feels, Flashbacks, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Illustrations, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Meddling Kids, Mordrem (Guild Wars), Self-Indulgent, Short, Sylvari (Guild Wars), Yeah this title is a Warframe ref and no one can stop me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-24 22:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21845044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KestrelGirl/pseuds/KestrelGirl
Summary: Geanais always had a strong will. Even Mordremoth couldn’t change that, though it tore her mind - and nearly her head - in two. The bickering between her own will and Mordremoth's made her snap entirely on multiple occasions. Even after the dragon’s death, and the end of its control over much of her mind and body, she struggles to control her rage and regret over what she did while under its influence.Though still the target of frequent stares, as Geanais finds out, the saplings she teaches can look past her fearsome appearance and see someone just like them on the inside.
Kudos: 5





	We All Learn Together

“Saplings, this is Secondborn Geanais. She looks different than most, but I promise you, she is a friend. Don’t be afraid.”

I tower over the saplings, as always. I must be two and a half feet taller than the biggest of them. I can tell they are scared. But they approach, cautiously, barely reaching my waist as they feel my bleached bark, leystone-crusted legs, and tough wrists.

* * *

_I remember the pain. The crushing headache, the twisted growth, the agony of control._

__

_It was as if my head - it_ was _my head being torn apart. Its growth socket was expanding far beyond where it should, widening my skull. A seam of bark grew down the center, cutting off my speech until it split my tongue into two. I spent days hacking up sap as the seam spread down my neck. Two mouths, two voices, and only one was my own._

* * *

I kneel down. It's the best I can do to not be threatening. The saplings gaze curiously at my three cherry-red eyes. 

One gray-barked, red-leafed young male tries to brush the groove dividing my mouth. "Now, now," I say through the right side, the side that stayed mine. He jumps back, startled. The left side sags now, only coming back to life when I lose control. The young sylvari excitedly whisper among themselves: "Oh - she speaks!"

Ah, wonderful. I have to cajole them off me. "Settle down, little ones. Let me tell you a story."

"Secondborn?" A female sapling pipes up as she looks me over with wide eyes. Her bark is brown and her hair is a mass of stubble, but the foliage on her body is gray, green, and red. "What did… this to you?"

"Have patience - though I admit I must learn that virtue myself. I will tell you in time."

* * *

_I remember the bickering, the war between the forces in my head. I remember the rage, losing control of it all as my mind fought my body._

_And I remember the day the eye opened, the day I knew I would never be the same._

* * *

“Thirty years ago, the Firstborn awakened. You may know some of them by now: Kahedins, Caithe, Niamh.”

“What about Trahearne?” Ah, yes - the girl again, who wanted to know what in Ventari’s name happened to me. 

“Just a _moment!_ ” I stand up. “As I was saying. They were all born with knowledge that they could not share. You probably have not heard of Wynne yet. She learned in her Dream that we are all the grandchildren of the Elder Dragon Mordremoth, and she died protecting this secret. She never told Trahearne. So he flew into Maguuma with the Pact, and the dragon took him the moment it could. And that was how a cycle ended; the Commander had to slay the very first Firstborn, in order to kill Mordremoth itself.”

“And what about you?”

“I… didn’t know it either. None of us knew until we all heard the call. Before all this happened, I was a stubborn old tree. Still am. The dragon knew it, and chose to tear my mind in two. I kept one side. It pulled the other.”

“So… you were a Mordrem?”

I pause, memories of the pain flashing before my eyes. “Yes. Well, most of me. I… I don’t want to-”

The saplings have gone abuzz again, bless their souls. “Could you think?” “How did you survive?” “So they really have that stone armor all over them?” 

Gods damn it. My breathing quickens, and I start to panic. If I weren’t a sylvari, I’d have a heart, and it would probably be racing right now.

And there’s that girl: “Was it trying to give you… two heads?”

That’s it. I see red, and I feel heat flickering through my body. My hands curl into fists, and the _other_ side of my face jerks into motion, speaking in its distorted voice.

_“ENOUGH!”_

Ugh, _thorns._ I’ve surprised even myself. I step back, and try to calm down. The memories are coming back again. But at least the saplings are silent as I take a few long breaths.

The female sapling walks up to me as I sit down and let the pain fade. She puts her hand on my shoulder; she has to reach to do even that. Her voice is quieter now. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know I hurt you.”

“That’s alright. Saplings never know better until they learn it the hard way.” My voice has returned to normal, but softer this time. I let out an exhausted laugh, and she visibly relaxes.

She gestures to everyone else. The other saplings walk over, one by one, and they all cluster into a tiny little hug around big ol’ me. 

“Alright, young ones,” says the mentor behind me. “You’ve excelled at this lesson. I was hoping to teach you to respect those different from you, and I suppose you’ve learned to love them as well.”

And if they’re not afraid to be friends with a giant scary Mordrem, they won’t be afraid of anything.


End file.
